Why can't humans do it too?

Sue once heard Kiss-Shot describe her power before it was weakened during a casual conversation—energy absorption, soul stealing, hiding in the shadows, material creation, weight manipulation, super regenerative ability, immortality, infinite lifespan, flight, turning into mist, turning into darkness, body deformation, killing with her eyes, amazing jumping ability... she could even jump from Japan to Antarctica on one leg.

In addition, there is a series of abilities that look like supermodels, which would undoubtedly break the balance in a game. Unfortunately, reality is not a game that can maintain balance.

To steal the heart of someone with such power right in front of you, the blond guy—no, this Oshino—is no ordinary person either.

Suer couldn't help but look inside his heart—it was fine, it was still beating quietly in his chest cavity.

[Idiot, I'm here. How could he possibly take your heart so quietly? One such stupid vampire is enough.]

You can always trust Xinke.

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Oshino Meme

'I just glanced at it casually, don't overthink it,' Su Er muttered to Xin Ke in her heart, while outwardly maintaining her scrutinizing expression.

As Kiss-Shot had said, his hair was dyed gold. Sue could see the black at the roots. His hair was not very soft, which made each strand of Oshino's hair stand up like a golden needle, without needing any external styling.

Meeting Suer's gaze, the blond-haired man still had that frivolous look. Perhaps it was a disguise, or perhaps it had become his true nature. Coupled with a pink Hawaiian shirt with petal patterns, Suer could only say that, based on his first impression, he was the type of person Suer disliked very much.

He's not the kind of person you can entrust things to.

That's just based on first impressions; we need to observe more to make a more accurate assessment.

"Yo~, my name is Shinobu Meme. You can call me Shinobu or Meme, what do you think? Isn't it a cute name?" The blond guy, who probably had no idea how to spell the word "shame," introduced himself with a grin. "As for my occupation, well, it seems I'm unemployed, but among the yokai, I'm also called a weirdo expert. Well, actually, I'm just a guy who wanders around Japan."

“…Sul,” Su’er said with a somewhat subtle expression. He didn’t know how to evaluate this strange name, especially since it appeared on the face of this middle-aged man with blond hair. “I suppose you already know.”

Although Suer is in his fifties or sixties, he doesn't look like an old man.

“Yes, Araragi-kun has already told me your name,” Oshino Meme sighed helplessly. “Seriously, it’s because of your appearance, Sull-kun, that the balance of this city is in such a mess.”

"Wait a minute, why do you call me 'little brother' but Mr. Sue 'older brother'?" Araragi Koyomi couldn't help but complain. "Mr. Sue doesn't look that much older than me, does he?"

"Haha, Brother Su is much older than he looks, and much scarier than he looks too~, Araragi, you still need to work on your eyesight," Shinobu Meme said with a laugh as she lightly patted Araragi Koyomi on the shoulder.

"Huh? Mr. Sue?" Araragi Koyomi looked over curiously.

“…You can call me Grandpa,” Suer said frankly to the boy after a moment of hesitation.

Araragi Koyomi: "..."

Putting aside Araragi Koyomi, who was silenced by a single sentence, Sull was more concerned with the information that Oshino Meme had just revealed.

"Balance?" Sue thought for a moment and said, "Is that why you stole Kiss-Shot's heart and then appeared here?"

“That’s right,” Shinobu Meme said frankly, admitting her purpose. “Iron-blooded, hot-blooded, cold-blooded vampire, the weirdest of the weird, the weird killer… these are all titles of that vampire. Her power has been passed down for hundreds of years, and its root is her strength. She is the undisputed king of weirdness.”

"Those three vampire hunters are quite strong, but they are far from being a match for the Queen of Monsters. If that vampire wasn't such a bloodthirsty creature, they would probably have been killed the moment they appeared in front of her," Shinobu Meme said, clutching her forehead as if she had a headache.

"So this violates the balance you mentioned?" Sull seemed to understand what this frivolous man was after. "So that's why you stole Kiss-Shot's heart, weakening her to a level that was comparable to those three vampire hunters?"

“That’s right, that’s how it should have gone,” Shinobu Meme nodded repeatedly.

"Do you believe what he said, Araragi?" Although Oshino Meme seemed to want to say something more, Sue interrupted her directly, looking at Araragi Koyomi seriously and saying, "Even if you yourself may not want to admit it, you are indeed a familiar created by Kiss-Shot, and there is a connection between you that outsiders cannot understand or feel... Can you accept the balance he talks about?"

“I…” Araragi Koyomi opened his mouth, seemingly excited for a moment, but quickly regained his calm and dejected state. “Actually, it was Mr. Oshino who approached me. Two vampire hunters besides Abbyssot wanted to contact us through him to have a duel. If we lose, we have to hand over Kiss-Shot, but if they lose, they will return Kiss-Shot’s limbs.”

"...Is this what you call balance?" Suer glanced at Shinobu Meme. The man always had that frivolous smile on his face, as if nothing bothered him. However, this time, Suer felt less disgusted by his first impression.

Even though it wasn't explicitly stated, he sensed that this Meme Oshino, who kept talking about balance, seemed to want to help Koyomi Araragi. Well, he wasn't sure yet.

“Of course, that’s the balance,” Oshino Meme sighed and said, “The balance that was already in place was ruined after you, Brother Su, and Brother Araragi appeared. Who could have imagined that you and your companions, who are so powerful, would suddenly appear and interfere? Moreover, no one could have imagined that the weirdest of the weird would create a familiar again. It’s a complete mess.”

It was indeed something no one could have predicted that Su'er and his group, who had returned from ancient times, would happen to appear in that alley.

"Does Kiss-Shot rarely create Familias?" This was a question that not only Sur was curious about, but Araragi Koyomi was also curious about.

"I wouldn't say very few, but rather extremely few," Oshino Meme held up two fingers. "The legend of the King of Monsters has never ceased for hundreds of years, and if my memory serves me right, Araragi-kun should be the second familiar created by that King of Monsters in those hundreds of years~ You could say that he's extremely powerful in both status and strength~"

"Second place?" Araragi Koyomi repeated blankly, "Then first place...?"

"I don't know—it seems she's already dead?" Oshino Meme said bluntly. "It's very difficult for ordinary people to get close to that King of the Strange. What? Didn't she tell you?"

Araragi Koyomi shook his head. In reality, although he was nominally Kiss-Shot's familiar, the vampire had never given him any orders or asked him to do anything. The relationship between the two was indeed somewhat delicate.

Is this the second family created after hundreds of years?

Araragi Koyomi found himself suddenly excited, experiencing a feeling unlike anything he had ever felt before.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Great Whirlpool

"That's a bit of a tangent, so you came to me just to get me to agree to the fight between Araragi Koyomi and those three vampire hunters for Kiss-Shot's limbs?" Sue shook the cola in her glass.

"Well, that's only part of the reason," Shinobu waved her hand, a rare hint of worry on her frivolous face. "It's mostly because of you, Brother Suer."

“Balance?” Suer asked rhetorically.

“That’s right, Brother Su, there’s a big problem just by you sitting here,” Shinobi Meme sighed. “Others may not see anything wrong, but in my eyes, Brother Su, you’re like a super vortex, constantly drawing everything from the outside world to the center of the vortex.”

"...I broke the balance you mentioned?" Although Shinobu Meme made him sound like the evil of this world, Suer could accept his words. After all, compared to all other life forms in this world, he, Shinko, and Jibril were all outsiders. "Are you going to exterminate me? It's like stealing Kiss-Shot's heart to achieve balance."

Whatever the reason, he would not give up and wait to die, nor would he give up his life.

"No, no, no, I absolutely didn't mean that," Shinobu Meme looked nervous for the first time since she entered the room. "Actually, with my strength, I can't possibly have any impact on someone like you, Brother Su, let alone balance things out."

Seeing that Araragi Koyomi and Hanekawa Tsubasa both looked confused, Oshino Meme simply flipped the lid of the wing bucket over and placed the white side flat on the table.

"If we consider Brother Suer and the King of the Strange as points, then the King of the Strange's influence extends to a city, a small country. Wherever she appears, all other strange or unusual events will consciously or unconsciously gravitate towards her."

Oshino Meme drew a circle on the paper cover with her fingernail, then drew a straight line next to the circle, and kept drawing that straight line until it became a curve that almost overlapped with the circle.

"The direct manifestation is that people encounter strange things more frequently, and the strength of the strange things that keep appearing will become stronger and stronger. Even monsters will encounter that king of strange things many times without realizing it. Over time, the human part will occupy a rather weak position in this city and even this country, which means that the balance will be broken - can you imagine that situation?"

"……Um."

Araragi Koyomi and Hanekawa Tsubasa answered in unison that, in the most extreme situation described by Oshino Meme, many urban legends would probably no longer be just legends, such as Hanako in the toilet, the Slit-Mouthed Woman, and so on.

After all, these are the kinds of strange things that exist because people believe in them, and the more people fear them, the stronger they become.

The more the balance is disrupted, the more likely these anomalies are to actually appear in the world.

At the very least, Araragi Koyomi didn't want to open the toilet door and find Hanako inside. What kind of nightmare was that...? He was starting to sympathize with Oshino Meme.

“As for Brother Suer, it’s completely different,” Shinobu Meme’s headache seemed to become even more obvious.

He first drew a circle on the back of the paper lid, and then drew a straight line next to the circle that almost reached both ends of the paper lid. He then made the straight line bend continuously, getting closer to the circle. He didn't finish drawing it, but the others already completely understood what he meant.

"That strange king could only influence a city, a small country, but Brother Suer, the scope of your influence is beyond my estimation. Is it as big as a continent? Or as big as a world? Ah, this is so troublesome~"

"...You can see things that are intangible and balanced?" Suer asked, sounding slightly suppressed.

"No, no, no, it's actually based on observation~", Shinobu Meme waved her hand and said with a smile, "It's based on the number and frequency of strange events, as well as their locations. Hmm... I've also asked some of my classmates~, and they're also investigating the cause of these anomalies."

“A few months ago, strange events suddenly started to occur in Japan and the country across the sea. However, about a month ago, these strange occurrences suddenly decreased. But this didn’t last long. In the past month or so, all sorts of strange things have started to happen again. That’s why my classmates who are investigating abroad asked me to come here and take a look.”

Suer remained silent. What Shinobu Meimei said was too obvious, leaving him no reason to even think in other directions—undoubtedly, the frequency of the strange occurrences that Shinobu Meimei mentioned was related to the time he appeared in this era.

Xin Ke also started to think.

"What will happen if this continues?" Araragi Koyomi couldn't help but interject, which was exactly what Sull wanted to ask.

"Who knows?" With a flippant shrug, Oshino Meme chuckled and said, "It's probably because monsters and strange creatures can no longer hide in the human world and are openly recognized by humans, right?"

“But I’ve also heard some interesting news from the yokai in Kyushu,” Oshino Meme whispered, shielding her face with one hand as she leaned closer to Suer. “They say that the yokai there firmly believe that if this continues, the era of yokai revival will arrive—according to them, the spiritual power in this world is increasing.”

Is the spiritual energy increasing?

Unable to resist looking up to observe the surrounding air, Suer hadn't noticed this little thing before, but now that he was deliberately observing, he found that the spiritual energy contained in the surrounding air was indeed more than the amount of spiritual energy he had found when he first arrived in this era.

Was it because of Amaterasu's death? Or because of the shattering of that small world? Or perhaps the collapse of the Milky Way, with energy merging into the universe?

In other words, his act of going back in time changed the future he knew from Nurarihyon.

"So this is an unsolvable problem, isn't it?" Su'er said calmly. "Do you really expect me to give up my life for the sake of balancing the number of humans and monsters?"

"No, no, no, of course not. I'm just pursuing balance. Killing is not my goal," the flippant blond man said seriously for a few seconds. "Actually, my senior has another guess, but let's put that aside for now. Isn't Araragi's matter more important right now?"

"Let's try to balance things out with the King of the Weirdos first. That might reduce the number of Weirdos to some extent... To be honest, things have gotten to the point where it's becoming increasingly difficult to manage..."

Chapter Thirty: Difficult

To be honest, it's quite comforting to see a hint of sorrow on that frivolous face.

“Alright, let’s talk about it in more detail later,” Sull nodded, looking at Araragi Koyomi who was frowning and silent. “So you’re going to risk your life to fight for Kiss-Shot?”

"How's it going, Araragi-kun?" Oshino Meme patted Araragi Koyomi on the back and said with a smile, "Isn't this the best way? If we don't do it in this fair way, those guys will probably flee the country with the body parts of that King of Monsters, and then finding them again will be like looking for a needle in a haystack."

For Kiss-Shot, the plan proposed by Oshino Meme was undoubtedly the most advantageous one.

What about Araragi Koyomi?

“Ah~, right, although it’s a bit too early for Araragi to talk about this, we should at least think about it beforehand, okay?” Oshino Meme stroked his stubble and said, “There have never been any rumors of that King of Monsters indiscriminately slaughtering or cannibalizing people, but vampires must consume their life force if they want to continue to exist in the world.”

"...Consuming life?" Araragi Koyomi murmured, his pupils shrinking.

"Huh? Hasn't that person started educating his family yet?" Oshino Meme asked, seemingly puzzled. "Simply put, a vampire has to eat people to live~, but if it's just for survival, then eating one person a month is enough, and twelve people a year. Even if you, Araragi, live to be over five hundred years old like that King of Monsters, you'll only have eaten over six thousand people."

"Six, more than six thousand people?" Araragi Koyomi's face suddenly turned pale.

“People die every moment in this world, and the number is far greater than this. To be honest, this number is less than the number of people who would die in a small war that the United States launched in the Middle East. Moreover, these 6,000 people can be chosen from those who have committed crimes such as murder... Hmm, this number may be much lower, after all, can you live to be 500 years old, Araragi?” Oshino Meme remembered something interesting and started to laugh. “It is said that whether they are vampires or vampires transformed from humans, they usually commit suicide when they are over 200 years old.”

"Suicide? Why?" Hanekawa Tsubasa asked curiously.